Dragon Quest: Spike goes on a journey of self-discovery by joining the ?Great Dragon Migration.? But does a rough and tumble gang of teenage dragons really hold the key to the questions Spike has about his identity?

Man, did this episode suck, possibly one of the worst episodes of the series. I hated the cold open, the potential for any world building on the dragons is tossed aside for a cheap "don't go with the bad influence plot", and it had a weak climax. I thought Williams improved with PYHD, but apparently I owe that one to Fullerton instead.

Well, I think the point is not that they used a stock kidvid trope, since they're always doing that. Rather, that it didn't seem like they did anything interesting with the idea. It was too generic, story-wise.

Welcome! You have entered [The Well] at 10:55 am[Dvandom] 10:55 am: Hihi[The Well]: Guardian Prime has entered at 10:56 am[Dvandom] 10:57 am: Chekov's Law applied to Rescue Bots: if a potentially dangerous piece of technology is introduced in act 1, the Bots will fight it in act 3.[Dvandom] 10:59 am: Strawberry Shortcake does not "shred" guitars.[Rezo] 11:02 am: Memes.[Rezo] 11:02 am: Memes in my manestream media[Rezo] 11:02 am: x_X[Dvandom] 11:03 am: Well, ancient ones.[Guardian Prime] 11:03 am: Running a little light on people in here today.[Nayuki] 11:03 am: it's okay[Dvandom] 11:03 am: People off on spring break, or getting an early start on green beer?[Nayuki] 11:04 am: no one likes Spike episodes anyway[scavgraphics] 11:04 am: thanks for noticin...I have been trying to lose some weight to my screen name[Dvandom] 11:04 am: I am reminded of the crane migration hoo-hah around here.[scavgraphics] 11:04 am: ponies have camoflage[scavgraphics] 11:05 am: rarity has opera glasses![Dvandom] 11:06 am: Finally getting positive attention from Rarity, and not appreciating it. So sad.[Dvandom] 11:06 am: Dragon Angst[Dvandom] 11:07 am: "Spike is my Pony Name. From now on, call me Dragon X."[scavgraphics] 11:07 am: so the dragon egg test WAS unique[Dvandom] 11:08 am: Bildungsromans[Dvandom] 11:08 am: Recall Teammate is useful for breaking up stuff.[scavgraphics] 11:09 am: ooh teleport other spell[Dvandom] 11:09 am: Dashie has bad scrapperlock.[Rezo] 11:09 am: >Dragons[Rezo] 11:09 am: >Rare[Rezo] 11:10 am: HUNDREDS OF THEM FLYING OVER PONYVILLE[scavgraphics] 11:10 am: I suppose "Dear Princess Celestia, where dd Spike come from?" is out of the question[Rezo] 11:10 am: It was a very, very nice view to see them fly, though~[scavgraphics] 11:10 am: I find this commerical to be very demeaning[Dvandom] 11:10 am: Well, that could be all the dragons there are, everywhere, and usually they're spread out over areas outside of Known Lands.[scavgraphics] 11:11 am: "Can you belive it? some guy at a local pizza place figured out something people like to eat! WOW!"[Dvandom] 11:11 am: They do seem to otherwise be solitary sorts.[Dvandom] 11:11 am: (As long as dragon eggs don't normally explode, as per the How To Train Your Pet Dragon series)[Dvandom] 11:12 am: [Rainbow Dash] With this rainbow I will pierce the heavens![scavgraphics] 11:13 am: i guess toupee wearing donkys is a thing[Dvandom] 11:13 am: I suppose this takes place before Cranky's intro ep, during the tail end of the donkey's wandering.[Dvandom] 11:15 am: Half the library comes out[Dvandom] 11:17 am: "Oh. That'd explain it."[Dvandom] 11:20 am: And thus, Spike displays the standard anime hero power of Damage Sponge.[Rezo] 11:20 am: The art is really quite beautiful this episode~[Rezo] 11:21 am: And I liked the little nods (Well, reuse of extant builds, I imagine :-p) like the wild phoenixes~[Dvandom] 11:22 am: Now, we know dragons recognize familial resemblances (i.e. Krackle's cousin), if this is the main conglomeration of dragons do you suppose any of the adults will pick up on Spike's parentage?[Rezo] 11:22 am: I doubt it.[Rezo] 11:22 am: I'm sure he's some rare breed of pony dragon[Rezo] 11:22 am: <_<[Dvandom] 11:23 am: Or it could be the inverse. "We've been talking while you played with the other younglings, and we're pretty sure you're not related to any of us, or any who aren't here."[scavgraphics] 11:25 am: ah rezo is ahead[Dvandom] 11:25 am: As previously established, Phoenices are related to the Roadrunner.[scavgraphics] 11:26 am: phoenixes are naturaly born trolls[Dvandom] 11:27 am: Pwned[Dvandom] 11:28 am: Team Teleport. So Twi is at least L14 by now.[Rezo] 11:29 am: So much continuity[scavgraphics] 11:29 am: was spike pasted into that last picture?[Rezo] 11:29 am: And the backgrounds this episode were beautiful~[Dvandom] 11:29 am: Scav: Yes[Rezo] 11:29 am: Loved Twilight needing two attempts for the team teleport, too[The Well]: Caboose has entered at 11:30 am[Caboose] 11:30 am: *Wakes up just as the episode ends*[Caboose] 11:30 am: WORST[Caboose] 11:30 am: POSSIBLE[Caboose] 11:30 am: THING[scavgraphics] 11:31 am: agin, love the betterholmes and gardens cookbook[Rezo] 11:33 am: 's mind is still being blown by the beautiful art in this episode[Caboose] 11:33 am: So was it a good episode, guys?[Dvandom] 11:33 am: Yes[Caboose] 11:33 am: *Huffs and waits for the 480p youtube to go up*[Dvandom] 11:33 am: (Why does Ratchet say "Hoo ahh!" in that ad? And in Bulkhead's voice, sounds like.)[Caboose] 11:34 am: Haven't you seen the episode with Synth-En in it?[Caboose] 11:34 am: I can't remember the name[Caboose] 11:34 am: But it's a good episode anyways[Dvandom] 11:36 am: Oh yeah, that one.[Caboose] 11:36 am: Wow, chat's usually a bit more active than this, even right after the episode, you all really busy?[Caboose] 11:36 am: Or do you just not want to talk to me?[Dvandom] 11:36 am: Not many showed up, Cab.[Caboose] 11:36 am: =P[Caboose] 11:36 am: Aw[scavgraphics] 11:38 am: i think the afternoon time messes with chatting[Guardian Prime] 11:39 am: Is everyone wearing green today? It's Saint Patrick's Day![Dvandom] 11:39 am: Yep, got my green on.[Dvandom] 11:39 am: I just realized Iron Will's brochure is a pop-up.[Caboose] 11:40 am: I don't![Caboose] 11:40 am: I don't really care about St. Patty's day.[The Well]: Rezo has left at 11:40 am[Dvandom] 11:40 am: I'm 1/4 Irish, so I figure I should at least make a token effort.[scavgraphics] 11:40 am: I've not decided on an outfit[scavgraphics] 11:40 am: had corn beef last night though[Caboose] 11:41 am: Oh, brunchtime[Caboose] 11:41 am: Seeya guys later[The Well]: Caboose has left at 11:41 am[scavgraphics] 11:41 am: I justified it as corn beef doesn't come from the Irish, but from Jewish immigrants, so start the holiday the night before[scavgraphics] 11:41 am: well, early reaction to ep on AS is not positive[scavgraphics] 11:42 am: I tend to agree...the story was greatly lacking[scavgraphics] 11:44 am: i confess it was more for what the story wasn't, than what it is..but realy this felt like a very generic kids cartoon story in FiM drag, rather than something a bit deeper[Dvandom] 11:45 am: Yeah.[Guardian Prime] 11:47 am: Out of the two Spike episodes we've had thus far, I liked Secret To My Excess best. Dragon Quest is just.....meh. Dragon Quest is still good, it just doen't rank very high for me. Loved the Phoenix family though. [Dvandom] 11:47 am: Fluttershy drunk on power.[Dvandom] 11:49 am: The New Adventures of Old Rarity?[scavgraphics] 11:49 am: there was nice art and stuff, but just meh[scavgraphics] 11:49 am: commerical for specific next week? that's new[Dvandom] 11:50 am: Indeed[Guardian Prime] 11:51 am: I think that's the first time they've shown a sneak peek of an upcoming ep on air. That surprised me.[Dvandom] 11:52 am: Well, she DID help him get to the Ponyville Tower.[scavgraphics] 11:54 am: I didn't notice the inredbile hulk theme going[Dvandom] 11:55 am: I did comment on it during chat the first run. [scavgraphics] 11:58 am: gotta say, Rarity might ge kicked out of the BBB for trying to get in the way of another businesscreature collecting their payment[Dvandom] 11:58 am: She'd probably ignore the BBB notice, assuming it's just more spam.[Guardian Prime] 12:01 pm: I'm headed out. Catch y'all later. RARITYCATCHME![Dvandom] 12:02 pm: Later.[Dvandom] 12:02 pm: I should get some errands run myself.[The Well]: Guardian Prime has left at 12:03 pm[The Well]: Dvandom has left at 12:03 pm[scavgraphics] 12:04 pm: guess that ends the chat

I think I appreciated this episode a lot more for not having seen the previews, which apparently gave away the best scenes. The only thing I really didn't like was how much it played up Rarity's affection towards Spike... oh, I'm sorry, "Spikey-Wikey." Once again the "Williams only watched a few season one episodes as research" theory comes into play; in this case it would be "Owl's Well That Ends Well".

"Pinkie's brain is kind of like a supersonic missile without a targeting system." - Creature SH

"Pinkie Pie is not so much random as she is non-linear." - Dvandom

"I like Discord like this. He's gone from a villain to something more akin to a natural disaster." - Fnu Aw

I must agree that this episode ranks quite low. Though I did really like all of the nice scenery, Fluttershy delicately bailing out her window was cute, and enjoyed seeing a Phoenix family. The story itself, however, was weak and generic. But, we can't always have a winning episode. Gotta take the lows with the highs. It all balances out.

Considering the way we've seen all "non-Spike" Dragons act I think the only difference between Teenager and Adult Dragon "mischief" is the size of what they steal and the damage they do while stealing it.

Well, I actually really like Spike, thought this had some good gags, established that his wings will come in eventually, and blew up my "ponies are required to get dragons to hatch" WMG. So I thought it was just fine.

I wouldn't have minded if RD had gotten a strike in on the teenagers.

The hunting blind for observing the dragons was a nice touch.

Twilight's probably going to get her book recounting her experiences among the dragons published. New Yoke Times bestseller list right there.

I can't speak for the others, but I liked this episode, good art style and character interaction. Nice to see Rainbow Dash and Rarity interacting.

By the way, what did RD hit Rarity with while in the costume? Her hoof? Couldn't tell.

Now that i think about it, the story was rather generic. I'd hate to admit it, but the stories have declined a bit since lauren faust quite the show. It is like there is no one left to challenge what a children's cartoon could be.

Kind of disheartening to hear people argue over which is there less favorite episode.

My only concerns with this ep are as follows:1. Why didn't anyone think to check with Celestia or her School for Gifted Youngsters to see where Spike's egg came from? Perhaps try to locate some actual family rather than the random assortment of dragons who just happened to be passing overhead?

2. GODDAMMIT, SPIKE!! WHY DID YOU STEAL THAT EGG!?Seriously, the rest of its family are fine, and they're probably going to miss THEIR OTHER CHILD! And if you decide to keep the hatchling, then you've essentially just doomed it experience the EXACT same identity crisis you just went through! And will we be seeing it again in future episodes?!

No, seriously, I honestly do hope we see Pee Wee the Phoenix chick again.

Other than that, I kinda agree that this episode felt weak. HUGE opportunities for world building and character development--which I thought was the series' bread and butter--completely ignored or tossed aside. Not as many laughs as I've come to expect from this show. Probably not rewatching anytime soon.

Also, Fluttershy's self-assertion training pays off! She's as scared as ever, but now she's even more insistent about it!